


The Crosses They Bear

by lydia_rogue



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Anti-Faunus Racism, F/M, Faunus!Fox, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, It earns its M rating in chapter 3 mostly, Team CFVY - Freeform, brief mention of past self-harm in chapter 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-24 07:45:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9711962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydia_rogue/pseuds/lydia_rogue
Summary: dock- verb /dɒk/to remove (the tail or part of the tail) of (an animal) by cutting through the bone: to dock a tail, to dock a horseFaunus will sometimes dock their children's tails so they can pass as human.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my entry to the RWBY Big Bang! Thank you so much to [Smecking](http://smecking.tumblr.com/post/157333554151/my-part-of-rwby-bigbang-its-one-of-the-first) for her beautiful art.

It wasn't easy to be the weird blind kid at school. Even though Fox attended one of the largest schools in Mistral, it was difficult for him to find and make friends. Being blind was rarely an issue, despite what his parents thought.

Having to pretend he wasn't a faunus _was_. 

The secret didn't bother him most of the time, but it made it difficult to get to know his peers outside of school. He could never go to sleepovers or participate in gym class - though the latter was blamed on his blindness, not on his inability to change into and out of his uniform in a public space. His parents rarely allowed him to go over to someone else's house, even for a couple of hours after school, they always had to come over to his place - not that it came up that often. 

So, when Mrs. Green partnered him with a classmate of his who didn't mind going to his house for the project, he was elated - doubly so when she was more than happy to work with him so he could contribute fully to the project even with his blindness.

"Mom! Mom!" Fox raced through the house, not minding as he bumped into two chairs, tripped over a toy and then crashed into the door frame on the way to the kitchen. "I made a friend today - and and she came over to work on a thing for history. Is that okay?"

She knelt down beside him, checking him over for injuries. "Of course it is. What's your friend's name?" She stood and headed back into the kitchen, rifling through cupboards for something. "Is she staying for dinner?"

Coco had taken an extra moment to navigate the house, carefully picking up the toy and pushing in the chairs Fox had collided with. "Hi Mrs. Alistair. I'm Coco, Coco Adel."

The loud crash that she got in response made them both jump.

"Mom?" Fox asked, taking a hesitant step forward. 

Coco grabbed his hand, pulling him back. "There's glass everywhere, be careful. Is there a broom somewhere, Mrs. Alistair?"

Fox's mom must have gestured to the closet where the broom was stored because Coco hurried off. "Mom, are you okay?" Fox asked, not moving from where he was.

"Of course, I was just startled," she said with a note of finality to it. "Coco, darling, here, let me get that. Were you planning on staying for dinner?"

"No, ma'am, I have to go home before then, but I was going to work with Fox on a school project until then."

"Of course, don't lose track of time!" she said, though her cheerful tone sounded forced.

* * *

After Coco left, Fox went upstairs to his room to finish the last of his homework, humming happily. He'd made a friend today! She'd expressed an interest in coming over again - _and_ had said she was looking forward to seeing him tomorrow at school.

Caught up in his good mood, it took Fox about ten minutes to notice his father had come home but hadn't come upstairs to say hi the way he usually did.

When he realized his parents were talking in hushed whispers downstairs, he crept out of his room to investigate. They didn't do that often, but it usually wasn't good news. (The last time they had done it was the day they'd nearly been outed by one of Rowan's coworkers and thought they were going to have to find a new job.)

"No, Rowan, of course he doesn't know anything is wrong." Fox crept closer to the top of the stairs to listen in on the conversation his parents were having. "I don't think he knows what could possibly be wrong with her."

"But an _Adel_ \- Heather, maybe we should tell him about what that means." his father said, exhaustion creeping into his voice.

Fox's mood fell - what was wrong with his new friend? Why did it matter what her name was? Did it have something to do with the fact that his father worked for Adel Enterprises? 

"You didn't see how happy he was to have made a friend, though." She sighed. "Coco seems perfectly polite - and I don't think Fox would tell her we're faunus."

"Heather, I'm just not sure I trust an Adel in the house - no matter her age."

There was a brief pause. "I'm not sure I do either."

Fox couldn't hide upstairs any longer. Coco was one of his few friends and he was going to defend her to his parents. They were always encouraging him to make more - why did it matter who it was with? "Mom? Dad?" he asked, fighting back tears as he walked down the stairs. "What's wrong with Coco?"

"Oh, Fox, sweetie." She picked him up. "I'm sorry, you weren't supposed to hear that."

"Why don't you like her? She's my friend." His lower lip trembled. He didn't have a lot of friends and he really liked Coco - he wanted his parents to like her too.

She ruffled his hair and his father sighed. "It's more complicated than that, kiddo."

"She's my friend," he insisted again, squirming out of his mother's arms, trying to get them to understand that she was important. "Why is it bad she's an Adel? Does it have something to do with where you work, dad?"

"Let's sit down, all right?" his mother asked.

The three of them settled on the couch, Fox pulling his knees up to his chest. 

"It's not that simple, Fox. You remember how we talked about the differences between faunus and humans?"

"Yeaaah?" Fox replied, tilting his head to one side. 

They were faunus and he wasn't to tell _anyone_ \- ever. No one else could tell (except for other faunus, but that was okay). Humans weren't all bad, but some were mean and so it wasn't _safe_ to tell people.

That's why he didn't have a tail.

"Coco seems like a sweet young woman, however her family is…" he trailed off.

Fox's mom wrapped her arms around him. "Her family isn't very nice to faunus, sweetie, and we're just concerned that she'd hurt you - unintentionally, perhaps."

"It's also very important she never find out we're faunus, Fox." His dad started to rub his back. "And yes, part of that is to protect my job - I do work for her family."

Fox pulled out of his mother's arms and stood up, stomping one foot on the ground. "No! Coco's not like that. She's nice! She's… she's my _friend_." He didn't know how else to tell them how much Coco meant to him - they had always been encouraging when he talked about new friends; he didn't know why Coco was different from the rest of them.

"Of course, sweetheart. Just - be careful, please," his mother implored. 

"I will - but you'll see. You'll see!" he said, lower lip trembling with held back tears. "She's my friend and I'm going to prove to you she's not like the rest of her family." 

He still wasn't sure what her family had done - or why they were _bad_ but he was going to prove them wrong one way or another.

* * *

Coco let out an irritated huff, glaring down at the page of braille Fox had put in front of her. It was _supposed_ to be simple enough to read, but she kept getting the dots scrambled in her brain and was unable to pick out individual letters, even though in theory she knew what each one was.

"Just - close your eyes maybe?" Fox suggested. He was leaning over the piece of paper with her, trying to help her learn. "I dunno. It wasn't easy but I think it was working better."

"I'll get it eventually," she reassured him, continuing to try and stare the piece of paper into submission. When that didn't work, she turned towards him. "Did you ask your parents about coming over to my place this Saturday for my party?"

He frowned, scuffing his foot against the ground. "They said they'd _think_ about it," he said after a moment. 

"So… no," she translated from parent-speak. "But why?"

"'Cause." He scowled down at the desk. "They don't like your mom."

A lot of people didn't. Teachers were careful not to pair Coco with someone who might take issue with her last name for group projects. "They haven't met though!" she protested, knowing it wouldn't make a difference.

He shrugged. "Dunno."

"Do - do you like my mom?" she asked, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice. She knew people avoided her because of her family, but Fox had always seemed so nice - and his parents were perfectly polite to her. 

Another shrug. "Dunno. Haven't met her." He gestured to the paper in front of them. "You want to keep trying? We don't have that much longer before lunch is up."

Coco nodded and pulled the paper closer. "Right." She'd just have to work harder to gain their trust. It was okay though - she was used to having to work extra hard to make friends.

* * *

As they grew older, Fox started to wonder if he shouldn't tell Coco - to trust her with the knowledge he was a faunus. Fox had never known what it was like to navigate the world with a tail - with an obvious faunus trait of any kind. He also struggled to identify others of his kind. Even though faunus knew one another, it often got lost in the sea of information he got from his newly-activated aura. Coco was one of the few people he could confide in - one of the few people he felt safe around.

He knew he was different because people couldn't see he was a faunus at first glance, but he didn't think it was a bad thing. He kept his mouth shut when people talked poorly of faunus - he didn't want to out himself and he rarely knew what to say. "That's rude!" was rarely effective and so he kept quiet, especially when schoolyard taunts started up. He hated what they were saying, and he often found solace in Coco's company when it happened, even if she didn't understand why he'd sought it out.

"Ugh! My mother accidentally bought me the wrong pair of pants yesterday - they had a weird hole on the back of the waistband. Turns out it was a pair of pants designed for _animals_."

Cruel laughter surrounded Fox, and he couldn't bring himself to join in. Even though it wasn't meant to attack him, not really, the accusation still stung. Hunter was wrong - he wasn't an _animal_ \- that was a really cruel thing to say about people like him. He was a _faunus_ \- 

"You know there are stores that don't even stock those types of clothes." 

His train of thought stalled at the sound of Coco's voice - her words were like a knife to the heart. 

"You don't have to have to deal with it at all. Here - I'll give you a list of my favorite shops." She sounded so casual, as if she hadn't just admitted to preferring shops that wouldn't serve him. 

Even though his family hid - pretended not to be faunus - they still refused to go to shops that discriminated and tried to only support businesses that treated faunus right.

Fox excused himself from the group - giving a feeble reason he was needed at home before fleeing.

Did Coco actually find him repulsive? 

The thought didn't sit right with what he knew about her - but he'd never directly asked her how she felt about faunus - too afraid of accidentally outing himself and his family - and it had never come up on its own.

The statement ate at him - would she still want to be around him if she knew he was a faunus? Was that the cost of his friendship with her - that he could never tell her the truth? 

Maybe his parents were right - maybe he couldn't trust her.

That thought alone was enough to break his heart - far more than the sting of betrayal he'd felt when she'd spoken up.

* * *

He'd debated talking to Coco about what she'd said - asking her about how she viewed the faunus (was she really as bad as his parents claimed?) - but he couldn't find the courage.

After a couple of weeks of soul-searching, it turned out it didn't actually matter.

"You're _moving_?" Coco asked, voice starting to tremble.

"Dad got a promotion. We're moving to Tsubaki," he repeated quietly. He didn't _want_ to go and leave his life behind. 

It'd been a nasty surprise to come home to the night before. His parents were already packing - they had a week to move.

_After Fox had walked upstairs, he sat on the landing and just listened, not quite ready to start putting his own things together._

_"It was Oliver, I'm sure of it," his father said. "He found out I was a faunus and now, suddenly, I'm being transferred to Tsubaki? Some 'promotion.'"_

_"Are you sure? You_ were _up for one…" His mother sounded like she didn't quite believe the words herself._

_"If it were anywhere but Tsubaki…" He sighed. "It's one of the largest faunus settlements outside of Menagerie. I don't think that's a coincidence, especially when paired with the fact we have to move so quickly."_

_There was a strained pause. "Why don't you just tell them no? You can turn it down, right?"_

_When his father next spoke, Fox could barely make out the words from where he was hiding just around the corner from the top of the stairs. "They're eliminating my position here. I have to take the promotion or find a new job."_

"But - that's on the other side of Anima!" Fox could hear the tears in Coco's voice. "Can't you stay here?"

"I'm sorry," he said, ducking his head. "I don't have a choice - I'd stay if I could."

"Maybe - maybe you could!" she said with the enthusiasm only a child who doesn't know how the world works just yet could have. "You could stay with my family!"

Fox pulled back from her enthusiasm, shaking his head before she'd finished speaking. "I can't. I have to go with them." It might have been kinder to lie, say he had already asked, but her words about faunus earlier still stung. Also, he knew he wouldn't be safe around her and her family in the long run - even if he thought he could trust Coco, her family would never accept him. "I don't have a choice."

Her face fell, the bright spark of hope dashed in six words. "Of course." Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "When do you leave?"

"Next week."

Her face scrunched up as she willed back the tears that threatened to rise. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too." He grabbed her in a big hug, trying to chase away tears of his own. "It's not fair."

"No it's not," she agreed, returning the hug. "We'll still be friends, right? You're not going to leave me here all alone." It was half-statement, half-question. "You have to message me every night to tell me what you're up to there."

He shook his head, tightening his embrace. "Of course, but you gotta - you gotta keep in touch too. Can't go finding a new best friend."

"I promise." She was his best friend and nothing would ever change that.

Right?

* * *

The Alistairs had a different problem once they reached Tsubaki. They didn't have to fear being outed - for the most part people simply knew that they were faunus, given that the majority of the town was - but that didn't mean it was easier to be out in a settlement where only the bosses were human.

However, as top brass of the factory, they fell into the upper class - which had been exclusively human up until their arrival. Docking visible faunus traits - particularly of newborn children - was generally frowned upon. It was _easier_ to be able to pass as human, especially in the human-centric kingdoms, but many felt like it should be a choice made by adults for themselves and not forced upon children. In large faunus settlements, particularly Tsubaki and Menagerie, it was considered rude to hide your traits. 

Since the Alistairs had no choice but to hide their traits, it was difficult to gain the trust of the other faunus in town. They were viewed as traitors and human wannabes. The fact that Rowan had been promoted over so many others had only added insult to injury. 

Fox kept his head down and tried not to stir up trouble in his classes - it was difficult enough to make friends, there was no need for him to make it harder.

His parents didn't need to tell him to be careful - or to tell him not to mention his friendship with Coco, who was not only human but also an _Adel_. He simply kept his head down and his mouth shut and sent messages to his best friend whenever he could, hoping no one would ask too many questions about who he was messaging. 

Less than six months after moving there, news reached the town: Adel Enterprises was closing down most of the factories on Anima in favor of building new ones in Menagerie. 

While Tsubaki was relatively sheltered from grimm attacks, it didn't make panic any less dangerous. It was no secret that the town almost exclusively existed because of Adel Enterprises - if the factory shut down, most of Tsubaki's citizens would have to leave to find work elsewhere. 

Sure, the port drew some commerce from out of town, but there were larger cities with deeper harbors relatively close and so it wouldn't be enough.

People tried to stay calm - tried to wait for more information on whether or not the factory at Tsubaki was one of the ones on the chopping block - but the panic set in in small ways.

Fox flinched every time his scroll went off. It hurt his heart to listen to the messages from Coco - innocent things about her days at school, extra lessons in business and fashion so she could step up and take over Adel Enterprises some day.

Every day when he went to respond, he put it off a little longer, and a little longer still. The messages he sent became more stilted - so much of his day was affected by the simple fact he was a faunus and he _couldn't_ talk to her; he had to omit so much from every message. He tried to think of things to talk about - but it was an ugly situation in Tsubaki and it was consuming his every waking minute.

Even after they got word the factory would remain, the panic and fear stayed - budget cuts still loomed and the powers that be could always change their mind. Reports of grimm circling closer and closer to the city only made things worse.

Fox's stress about the messages went on like that for about a month, until he was responding to the messages five minutes before he went to bed for the night.

Five minutes became four.

Then three.

Two.

One.

It wasn't a conscious decision to not respond to her that night. He'd simply laid down for bed like he usually did and drifted off before he could think of what to say to her.

When he woke the next morning and remembered what had happened, the guilt he had expected to feel simply wasn't there.

It was freeing to not have to worry about reaching back out to her. He wasn't breaking his promise, not really. He'd reach out to her as soon as he had something to say - surely she was tired of hearing him whine about the situation in Tsubaki.

Or at least, that's what he told himself every night as he tucked the scroll under his pillow. 

He'd reach out again eventually, when there was something new in his life - plus, if he stopped worrying about what to say, he'd be adding fewer negative emotions to the mix - and that was always a good thing, right?

* * *

The only lifeline Coco had was the fact that her calls to Fox's scroll would connect. His scroll was still active - her messages weren't coming back as undeliverable - which meant he was probably still alive.

He never picked up anymore, or responded, but she had made her peace with it. 

Her own life - everything she had known about how the world worked - was falling apart around her anyway, and she had lost almost all of her friends here, so what was one more thing?

_If we move all the factories to Menagerie, we can save exponentially on labor._

_They're just animals - what does it matter what we pay them?_

_It's not like they're_ human.

The words haunted her, but there was nothing she could do. She was only 13 - she had no sway in what happened at Adel Enterprises, but she still knew it was _wrong_.

She just wished there was something she could do that was more productive than wallowing in self-pity.

Dialing his number, she listened as the system went to voicemail. She was done begging for him to call back, done trying to figure out what had happened to their friendship. 

"I think you stopped listening to these awhile ago, so this is going to be my last one," she said into the receiver. "I'm sorry. I don't know what happened, or why you stopped calling me back. I hope you're okay." She took a deep breath, trying to will back the tears. "I hope you've found happiness, wherever you are. If - if you ever want to talk to me, I'm here. I just - I wish I knew what happened."

She couldn't hold back the sob that followed - there was no easy way to hang up this time, knowing she wouldn't be calling back, and she sat there with the scroll to her ear for a minute or two before finally managing to end the call.

"Goodbye, Fox. I miss you."

* * *

_Goodbye, Fox. I miss you._

He had listened to every single one of her messages so many times he practically had them memorized at this point. He knew what he was doing - he was clinging to remnants of a past that he could no longer have, reminding himself again and again of what could have been, had they stayed in Mistral.

Despite the self-awareness, he couldn't delete them. He had carefully saved each one - even going so far as to keep backups. 

It had been a year since he'd last heard from Coco, but he still found comfort in her messages, especially when he walked the outskirts of Tsubaki, trying to keep out any encroaching grimm from attacking the village again.

The weapon he used - two beautiful wrist-mounted elbow blades - had been a gift from his parents, a way for him to protect himself and everyone else out here in the wild. 

He'd gotten good at it - protecting himself, that is. The fresh graves that were dug weekly proved he wasn't as good as he thought at protecting everyone else. His semblance only worked so well, and didn't make up for his lack of sight.

Few of the villagers who remained were willing to train him to fight and to protect himself, but Fox didn't mind. He patrolled on his own and trained on grimm that wandered too close to the town. Occasionally he would indulge in a fantasy - one where he left Anima to train at one of the academies and became a huntsman.

He would sometimes laugh at the irony of it all - the frail kid kept out of gym class, supposedly for being blind, was actually considering becoming a huntsman. 

He wondered what Coco would think if she could see him now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay before you start yelling in the comments: It's _complete_ and chapters will be posted over the course of the next week as I do the final polish.
> 
> Here's the update schedule:  
> Chapter 2 on Sunday 2/19  
> Chapter 3 on Wednesday 2/22  
> Epilogue on Thursday 2/23
> 
> In case you weren't having enough feels, in keeping with RWBY naming patterns, [Tsubaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanakotoba) means "in love, perishing with grace; Waiting; Longing" depending on the flower color.
> 
> Thanks to [dictionary.com](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/dock) for my summary.
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr](http://marykay91.tumblr.com/) (or y'know, cry).


	2. Chapter 2

_Eye contact_ , Fox thought bitterly, shifting his weight on the launch pad as he listened to classmates to the left of him start initiation. It wasn't exactly his strong suit. 

He considered asking how exactly he was expected to make eye contact, but he refrained in the end. He didn't want to appear weak to his classmates - it'd probably be better to just leave things the way they were. 

Despite having been at Beacon for most of a day, he hadn't gotten to know any of his classmates yet. He'd have little choice for his partner, and it was easier not to get his hopes up for who he might be partnered with.

He had no illusions that they'd be someone he'd want to be around after graduation. Best case scenario, he would end up with a human who was mostly tolerant of faunus. But even here in Vale (which was relatively accepting), he knew the possibility was remote at best. 

After graduation - he held out some hope he'd be accepted in Menagerie, that he could go back there and make some sort of peace with his faunus heritage. However, he wasn't sure how he'd be received.

He took a deep breath as the launch pads started to activate. That was a ways off - he needed to focus on the current objective: find a partner.

A second later, he was flying towards the forest and he had no more time to worry about anything.

* * *

Being thrown into the air and into the Emerald Forest was the first time it really sank in that Coco was _free_. The weight that had settled onto her shoulders over the past several years evaporated. She had no obligations to her family's company nor were there any expectations to act a certain way.

For once in her life, her mission was simple: find a partner, find the temple and then survive to get back to Beacon. Her classmates had the same goals too - none of them would have hidden motives or be looking out for a way to stab her in the back. 

At most she'd have to be wary of someone who might think she was anything like the rest of her family - that she _approved_ of the direction of Adel Enterprises had taken in recent years. She wouldn't want to be partnered with someone who was as racist as her family. But that wouldn't be too awful - she knew how to navigate those situations. If she found someone who _didn't_ approve of Adel, she'd just have to prove to them she wasn't like that - and that she could do.

With that in mind, she landed in the forest with a light heart - especially when she could hear a fight not far behind her. She kept her gun stowed as she approached, figuring it would be easier to jump into the fray with her case than raining down bullets on an unsuspecting classmate. 

She only got a brief glimpse of red as she waded into the pack of beowolves, breaking heads with her purse. "Behind you!" she shouted to the other fighter as she moved into position.

There was a low curse - the voice was familiar, but hard to place, possibly someone she hadn't spoken to in some time - as he turned to face the newest grimm. She couldn't afford to linger on the thought though - there would be more than enough time to figure out who the stranger was later.

Neither of them had cause to speak again until final beowolf was dissolving at her feet, having danced around one another like it was second nature. She would have no qualms about having this classmate as a partner, but when she turned to say as much, the words died in her throat.

He blinked as her eyes met his white ones. "Hello? Are we partners? I'm sorry, I can't tell." 

Now that her heart wasn't pounding in her ears with the adrenaline of the fight and she could focus on her new partner, she knew where she recognized his voice from. The mess of copper hair was just the same as when they were kids - unruly and perpetually getting into his eyes - and his arms and face had a multitude of scars, newly acquired since they'd last seen one another.

She made an aborted movement to touch him, to confirm he was real and not a figment of her imagination. " _Fox_?" she managed to choke out, not quite believing her eyes. It couldn't possibly be him - what kind of cruel twist of fate would have partnered them together after so many years?

He jerked back at the sound of his own name, stumbling slightly over his own feet. " _Coco_?" 

She hated how broken her name sounded - and she hated that she had sealed their fate as partners. She couldn't pretend they hadn't made eye contact - she couldn't do that to him, even if she thought the professors monitoring initiation would allow it. She looked away, as if that would mean she was no longer partners with someone who, like so many others, had apparently grown to hate her.

" _Fuck_." She covered her face with her hands. "Fox - I'm so sorry."

The silence that followed felt like a stab to the chest. "So, partners, then," he finally said, voice flat.

"Yeah," she managed, choking on tears. "Yeah, we're partners."

Becoming partners with Fox was a dream she had never had the chance to have. It would have been perfect - attending Sanctum together and coming to Beacon to become hunters. But she had never thought of becoming a huntress when they knew one another - and even then, he had always been excused from gym for his blindness, and so she would have never considered it a possibility.

It was a thought for another time - over-cautious parents or teachers had kept him out of the classes no doubt and that must have irked him to no end.

If she'd had known - well, it would have been a dream to learn to fight side by side with Fox. 

Now it was a nightmare.

She had come to Beacon to escape her past, to leave behind the pain and broken friendships of her childhood in Mistral, but it looked like there were just some skeletons she couldn't run from.

* * *

Fox didn't quite know what to make of his new partner. He wanted to believe that she was as kind as he'd believed when he was younger, but the years had made him a little more jaded. He wasn't willing to trust his memories from when he'd been more innocent.

They met up with another partner pair shortly after picking up their artifact - both of their auras were powerful, though one seemingly more solid than the other. There was something _different_ about the wispy aura, but he had a hard time putting a finger on it - and the grimm-infested forest was not the place to do it. 

Once they were safely back on top of the cliff, he could focus on the strangers. _Then_ it was easy to tell what had been bothering him.

He wasn't ever sure if it was a scent, a hormone or a subconscious connection, but he did know his ability to identify faunus wasn't linked to his semblance - which allowed him to feel auras and grimm. All faunus seemed to have the same sense - and now that he could focus, he could say with certainty one of the strangers was one. 

Even though it was rude to mention it around humans when it wasn't obvious, his anxiety spiked - it'd just take one wrong word and then Coco would know. 

He pushed the thoughts from his mind though - chances are they would have a couple of classes together and nothing more. He focused instead on Professor Goodwitch, who was standing in front of them. 

"Congratulations to you four, you're the first back. Your artifacts, please."

Coco handed theirs over and Goodwitch tapped at her scroll for a moment. "Yatsuhashi Daichi, Velvet Scarlatina, Fox Alistair and Coco Adel - you're our first team of the year."

One of the two strangers hissed in alarm at Coco's name. Fox couldn't blame them - he was wary about his new partner too.

"The team naming ceremony will be later this evening - starting at 6 p.m. Your leader will be announced then. In the meantime, you can head back to your dorm. If you have any questions, please let me know," Goodwitch said, walking away to greet the next group that had arrived, leaving the four of them alone.

"I'm Fox," he offered, breaking the strained silence that had settled over them. "You should know - I'm blind." It was something they should know - and it would let his new faunus teammate know he had no idea if they were out or hiding their traits. He had no doubt they knew he was a faunus - it certainly wasn't Coco. 

"Velvet." Her voice was a gentle sigh. "I guess you can't see I'm a rabbit faunus, then."

He shook his head. He couldn't tell she was a _rabbit_ faunus. "Thank you for telling me." He'd talk to her in private about it the first chance they got - there could be many reasons he wasn't obviously faunus, and it would be rude of her to out him in front of others. 

"Let's head to the dorm and get settled in," Coco suggested after they finished exchanging pleasantries and the tense silence threatened to return. 

As they walked towards Beacon, Yatsuhashi engaged Coco in small talk about her family, mostly things Fox knew about their childhood in Mistral. 

When Velvet started to lag behind, Fox followed suit. 

Coco and Yatsuhashi didn't seem to notice, even when Fox and Velvet stopped, turned towards one another until their partners were out of earshot.

"You don't have to tell me anything, if you don't want," Velvet said. "I assume Coco doesn't know."

"Of course not." Fox sighed. "I'm a fox faunus. I'm told I was born with a tail. There aren't any pictures - not that I'd be able to see them anyway." His explanation was halting - almost mechanical, but not quite there yet because of how rarely he offered it up. "My parents thought it would be for the best."

He didn't need to elaborate on what happened. It was frighteningly common in some areas to remove a child's faunus traits at birth.

"I've still got my ears," Velvet said. "They're hard to miss." Her tone offered no judgement on his parents nor any pity for him. 

And that - that was a hard pill to swallow. If Fox had still had his tail, it would have been just as hard to hide from prying eyes. 

"Coco and I used to be close, but then we moved away four years ago. My father worked for Adel Enterprises…" he trailed off. "We moved to Tsubaki. After Adel announced the closures, even though the factory there wasn't one of them, the resulting panic…"

She reached out and squeezed his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Fox."

"I cut off contact with her not long after it was announced - I couldn't - _everyone_ in that village was a faunus and they hated my family enough already." He blinked back unexpected tears. "She'd been nice - a human child raised in a racist family, sure, so there were… incidents… but she wasn't ever openly cruel." It was better than most human children acted, though he couldn't help but wonder if it was because he looked human.

Velvet made a noncommittal noise at that - it had been so many years and their situations were so different it was hard to extrapolate how Coco would react now.

"Velvet?" They both jumped at Yatsuhashi's call. "Are you two all right?"

"Yes!" she shouted back. "We'll catch up in a moment."

"I trust Yatsu with my life," she added, just for Fox. "We met on our first day of combat school in Vacuo. He was my first real friend after we moved there from Menagerie."

Fox was grateful for the reassurance - but he felt a little guilty. He hadn't thought to worry about Yatsuhashi - he didn't have to, since he passed for human. 

He tried to offer what little reassurance he could. "We were best friends when we were younger."

"But you never told her." It wasn't a question.

"I was ten years old and my parents were terrified of my best friend and have told me to never tell _anyone_ ," he said, chuckling slightly at the thought of having told her.

But the amusement was short-lived, sighing when the exhaustion overtook him. "No. Almost - a dozen times over. I think if we'd stayed friends I would have, but it's been some years and I'm no longer so…" he groped for the right word, settling on "innocent."

Velvet reached out and gripped his shoulder. "We'll figure it out. I know you and Yatsu have my back, and I've got yours, no matter what happens."

He wasn't much for hugs, but it felt right to open his arms and offer her one. She immediately closed the distance between them, hugging him back, and when her ears brushed his face, he smiled brightly. 

It was the first real smile he'd had since Coco had confirmed they were partners.

* * *

Coco wasn't sure her partnership with Fox was going to be repairable, not that she understood why it was broken in the first place, but it didn't mean she had to start off on the wrong foot with her other teammates. 

"I don't see eye-to-eye with my mother on many things. How she conducts Adel enterprises is certainly one of them," Coco said. He'd said he'd known Velvet for years and she knew they would be suspicious of her, so she tried to offer what little reassurance she could. "I - " she stopped and looked around. "Where are Velvet and Fox?"

They turned, seeing their partners had fallen quite a bit behind them. 

Coco bit her lip, unsure of how to proceed. They seemed engrossed in their conversation. Velvet's ears had fallen back, and neither of them looked particularly happy. "Should we go back?"

"She's probably just checking with Fox - sometimes people have questions about her being a faunus," Yatsuhashi replied, though he cupped his hands around his mouth to shout to Velvet and check in.

Her returning shout was reassuring, though they didn't move to join them either.

"He - well. We knew one another some years ago, and he wasn't racist then." She looked over her sunglasses, slightly envious of the way Velvet easily reached out to touch him. She missed Fox - missed their closeness from when they were children.

He shrugged. "She likes to talk to people when there's something different, like him being blind."

Coco raised an eyebrow. "And being the heiress to Adel Enterprises isn't _different_?" she asked, curious. She would have expected something like that to alarm Velvet more.

Yatsuhashi's friendly demeanor dropped in a heartbeat. His level gaze was downright cold as he sized her up, posture stiff and voice flat. "Velvet has had to deal with racist humans before. That's nothing new."

She tried not to shiver at sudden change in tone. For all his kindness a moment ago, he clearly didn't trust her - not that he had a reason to, _especially_ with Fox acting so cold.

"I'm not..." She wanted to defend herself and say she wasn't like that, but the words wouldn't come. He had no reason to believe her - and every reason to distrust her. It was one thing to learn about privilege academically and acknowledge that she, as an affluent human who had benefited from faunus oppression, had quite a bit of it. It was another to be forced to accept that people she was supposed to be able to trust unconditionally would hate her for it. 

When combined with her broken partnership with Fox, Coco felt unbearably alone.

* * *

Coco wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry when Professor Ozpin announced she was to lead team CFVY. Mostly she just felt numb. Fox was unnaturally stiff beside her, and the smiles from Yatsuhashi and Velvet didn't reach their eyes. 

She couldn't look at them when they got back to the dorm room. "If you want - I'll talk to Ozpin tomorrow. I don't want to be leader." She sat down on her bed and took her beret and sunglasses off. She pressed the heels of her hands into her closed eyes, willing the tears away. "I'll talk to him, I'm sure it was a mistake." Right now she felt like anyone else would have been a better choice. _Why me_ , she begged silently. She'd come to Beacon to escape these kinds of responsibilities, to escape these burdens. 

Velvet shifted uncomfortably. "I'm - I'm not happy with this, but I'm willing to try." She offered a smile that was less forced.

"You demonstrated great leadership ability during initiation," Yatsuhashi said. "While I can't say this is my ideal team makeup, I'm willing to try. I think it's too early to judge if Ozpin made a mistake."

It wasn't a glowing review, but she'd take it - she'd take anything short of outright rejection right now. 

She couldn't look at her partner - couldn't force his name out of her throat where it'd gotten stuck with the tears. Velvet and Yatsuhashi had damned good reasons to distrust her - or least, that's what she told herself. 

Fox - something had gone terribly wrong there so long ago and she had no idea why, nor how to fix it. (She refused to consider that it might be broken beyond repair.)

"I'm willing to try," Fox said finally.

Coco let out the long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "I'm going to try too," she promised. "I know you have no reason to trust me right now, but I don't want to fuck this up." She offered a smile. "If you ever want to talk, I'm here. I don't know exactly what has you worried - I mean, I'm human and an Adel - "

"Not much more to it," Velvet acknowledged. 

Coco nodded, her smile faltering. "I understand." 

She didn't - not really. She wasn't sure she ever could understand - but she could accept that they were starting in a place of mistrust and would have to work to improve it.

It didn't mean it hurt any less.

* * *

Fox had written off his partnership already, no matter how much it hurt, and avoided being alone with Coco. It helped that Velvet refused to leave them alone together, no matter how much Coco tried to talk to him. 

He knew she'd have questions - questions he didn't have a good answer to, and so he avoided her rather than try to face the issue.

But he it couldn't last, and eventually she managed to corner him.

"I want to fix this," she said. "But I don't even know what happened - I want to _apologize_ but I don't know why."

He ran his fingers through his hair. "You have nothing to apologize for."

She started pacing, her heels clacking against the floor as she did. "Really? Because I lost my best friend 4 years ago and I still don't know why."

_Because I couldn't tell my faunus friends my best friend was an Adel after the factory closures. Because it hurt to stay in contact, knowing you would one day join the company who destroyed my town. Because I thought you wouldn't be my friend anymore if you knew the truth and so it was less painful to say goodbye like that._

He shrugged. He couldn't say why, not out loud. Not yet - maybe not ever. "People change."

"People - _us_ or _you_?" She paused, but he refused to answer - not that he really had one. "Fox, what happened, _please_."

He let out a derisive snort. He couldn't tell her everything, but there was a truth that would cut through to the heart of the matter. "Adel Enterprises didn't have to close the factory in Tsubaki to destroy the town - just the _threat_ was enough," he snarled, trying to bait her. When she rose to it, he'd just feed off her anger.

But she didn't. "I heard - I'm so sorry." 

He cocked his head at the tone of her voice - she actually sounded _remorseful_. "Yeah, well. I didn't know how people would react if they knew I was talking with…" he snapped his mouth shut. He'd nearly said _human_.

"With an Adel," she finished with a sigh. "Yeah. I don't blame you. I - just wish you had let me know you were alive. I checked, you know. After everything had settled down and the factory there reopened, I checked the payrolls." Her voice grew thick with tears. "When your father wasn't listed anymore… I could only assume the worst."

Fox had been lucky - the weapons his parents had given them had saved him in the same grimm attack that had taken their lives. He stepped forward and gave Coco an impromptu hug, not wanting to linger on the past. "I'm okay. I stand by what I said - I'm willing to give this a try."

She jumped at the contact, but quickly relaxed into his embrace. "Thank you," she whispered. "I missed you."

He wanted to say _I missed you, too_ but he couldn't find the courage to say it. Even though it was true to some extent, he wasn't sure if he had missed _her_ or had missed someone who had never really existed. 

Instead, he extended a peace offering, something to try and bridge the gulf between them. "Velvet and Yatsu asked me to teach them some braille - you could join us if you wanted." It was something they had bonded over when they were children and no doubt something she would need a refresher on.

"Oh!" She pulled away from him suddenly. "I'll be fine. You should spend time with them."

Her dismissal stung - far worse than he could have ever imagined. 

"Right, of course." The words sounded hollow to his ears. _So much for making it work_ , he thought bitterly.

"No, Fox - it's…" She stumbled over the sentence in her haste to get it out. "I never forgot how."

He startled back slightly at the admission.

"I still had all those notes we passed in class, a book you'd lent me." She let out a huff of laughter. "I didn't want to let you go."

"Oh." It was the only thing he could say - he had no idea what to do with that knowledge. He hadn't really wanted to let Coco go either, but he had.

He had - and for the first time he was starting to regret his choice.

* * *

Fox hadn't known what to expect from his teammates when he'd enrolled in Beacon. Maybe make a friend or two, learn some things together, then go their separate ways after graduation. He'd thought - _maybe_ \- he'd learn to trust his partner enough to tell them he was a faunus. A large majority of the students of huntsmen academies were human, so he hadn't really expected to have another faunus on his team. 

What little expectations he'd had were blown out of the water completely. Coco, for all their history, was actively trying to be a good leader and a better partner. 

Yatsuhashi was kind, quickly learning how to adapt to Fox's needs and even learning some braille alongside Velvet. 

Velvet had blown all his expectations out of the water. She'd been understanding from the start - far friendlier than the faunus in Tsubaki had been - helping him avoid Coco, had promised to keep his secret. 

Without the possibility of a close friendship with Coco, he latched on to Velvet instead, seeking out her company and friendship whenever he could.

Velvet didn't seem to mind - if anything she seemed to _welcome_ it - often reaching for his hand or arm when they were walking side by side in the hallway. 

He smiled every time. He didn't need the help, far from it, but he enjoyed the excuse to touch her. 

Sometimes they'd slip out into the hallway outside their dorm together after their partners had gone to bed to just talk - talk about their families, their lives outside of Beacon.

"I can't hide," she confessed to Fox one night. "My ears are a foot long."

His hand found hers, creeping across the floor until they were overlapping. "I'm sorry."

Part of him wanted to scream - he wouldn't have been able to hide either if he'd still had his tail. 

He's not sure anymore if anyone would _believe_ him if he told him he was a faunus.

Her hand withdrew. "It's not your fault."

"If I could change it - I would," he swore. He would, too. He hated that he had no choice in the matter.

She sighed and shifted closer, resting her head on his shoulder. "I tried to cut my ears off when I was fourteen. I was lucky it didn't scar. Vacuo was so much crueler than Menagerie - I thought if I could just fit in, look like everyone else…"

He hissed in sympathy, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Should he touch them? It seemed like an intimate thing to do. "I never know if I should speak up or just stay quiet - I don't want to out myself to someone who's going to hate me for it, or for someone to think I'm a human _pretending_ to be a faunus…"

Velvet growled. It wasn't a common issue, but it had been known to happen. "No one who knew you would think that's what you were saying."

"It's hard to prove, though, not without half-stripping." He'd taken to hiding in the dressing rooms when they had to change for class, avoiding prying eyes who would notice something was off with the way his boxers sat on his waist and tailbone. Cropped as short as it could be when he was born, he still had a stub a few inches long where his tail should have been. 

He'd thought about going back to a doctor and seeing if he could have the rest removed, but he couldn't do it - couldn't bring himself to lose the last of his heritage. 

Velvet moved closer, so they were pressed against one another. "Thank you for trusting me."

Fox could have argued he hadn't had much of a choice, but that wasn't entirely true. He had decided to trust her with more than what was strictly required. 

"Thank you for being here for me," he whispered instead, grateful for her company.

* * *

The morning after his heart to heart with Velvet, he woke up late and ended up heading out for breakfast after the rest of his team.

"That _isn't_ funny," Coco's voice echoed down the hallway, angrier than Fox had heard in a long time.

"Come on, Adel, where's your sense of humor? It's just a little harmless fun. What does it matter to you anyway? I thought you were an Adel?" The other woman's voice wasn't one he recognized and Fox stopped, leaning against the wall. He kind of wanted to see what had gotten her so riled up. 

It sounded like someone had been goading Coco about her family and Fox was kind of curious as to how this was going to play out - would she try to defend her family's actions?

"How is that even _remotely_ funny - no, please, explain to me exactly how a joke with a punchline of 'he had a tail!' is _funny_."

Fox straightened and cocked his head at her words. Was she - was she standing up for faunus?

"Jeez, lighten up, Adel, can't you take a joke?"

Fox winced. Coco _hated_ being addressed like that. This other woman was spoiling for a fight. He pushed himself off the wall and slowly meandered down to where the argument was happening. 

" _Jokes_ at the expense of others are never funny," Coco snapped, not rising to the bait of her last name.

"Why don't you complain to _mommy_ then? I'm sure would have a few things to say on the subject." She sounded so full of herself. "Or does she know you're defending them? Is that why she tossed you out and you came crawling to Beacon?"

There was a derisive snort from a third person. "Are we sure she's even an Adel?" 

Fox rounded the corner just in time for the first one to say "I dunno, maybe her mom kicked her out when she found out she was on a team with a _freak_ \- "

 _Crack_.

Fox walked forward and grabbed Coco's shoulder to prevent her from doing more than breaking their nose. 

"Do _not_ call Velvet that," she snarled, trying to pull out of Fox's grip.

"Coco - c'mon, Velvet wouldn't want them killed." He tightened his hold on her arm, though he wished he could turn her loose - they certainly deserved the full force of her wrath. 

She pulled away, stalking off the way Fox had come, muttering, "Not worth the detention."

The three assholes she'd been confronting left quickly, clearly not wanting to take on half of one of the most formidable teams at Beacon. 

Fox hurried after Coco to catch up to her. "Coco." He grabbed her shoulder and she shook him off. " _Coco_."

"You shouldn't have stopped me," she growled.

"You _just_ said they weren't worth the detention." He grabbed her shoulder again, this time not letting her shake him off so easily. "Coco - what was that all about?"

"Did you hear what they were saying?" she asked, anger bleeding away in favor of confusion. "I couldn't stand by and do nothing!"

He frowned. "But - " He thought back to when they were children, the casual acceptance of such things - generally ignoring it or, worse, laughing along. "You didn't used to." Maybe it wasn't fair to judge her on the things she did when she was so young, but given her family's reputation, it wasn't completely unfair either.

"Yeah - that's… fair." Coco sighed. "Look, I know my family's reputation, and I know I said and did some shitty things when I was a kid, but we haven't talked a lot since we met again. I decided I didn't want to be a part of their bigotry and hatred anymore. I've all but renounced Adel Enterprises at this point. I don't want to just be another racist human."

He wanted to believe her - he'd never wanted to believe she was anything but kind and accepting. Being nice to Velvet was a bare minimum, but it was _something_ \- and she hadn't known Fox had been there earlier, so it hadn't been an act for his benefit. He couldn't help but question her a bit though. "When?"

She paced back and forth across the narrow hallway. "Not long after…" She stopped and her voice became so quiet it was hard to hear. "Not long after you stopped talking to me." She started her pacing again. "I never could figure out why. I mean, I could guess. I lost a lot of friends over the factory closures and so I never blamed you. It wasn't the first thing that had me questioning my family's policies, but that was the last straw." She stopped and took his hand. "You don't have to explain why - I lost several friends over the factory closings - but I want you to know I'm trying to make a difference and change." 

He didn't pull his hand back. "It… was a factor." It felt inadequate, but it was the truth. But the whole truth at this point was a gulf he didn't know how to begin to cross. "The whole thing was a lot more complicated than that," he added with a sigh, squeezing her hand. "But I know you're trying and it helps."

She squeezed back. "I'm not perfect. I'm still learning."

"Of course - you're only human," he said with a smile.

Coco drew him into a hug. "We can be human together."

It was a bridge - one she didn't know she'd built, offering him a way to tell the truth. Part of him ached to, but he found himself at a loss for words. The gulf still felt too wide and the passage too rickety to hold weight, given the tenuous state of their friendship.

How do you tell your partner you'd been lying to them for nearly a decade?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you uh. Enjoyed? Have some [fluffy](https://cfvy.tumblr.com/post/157407572897/consider-coco-and-fox-as-childhood-friends) headcanons about Coco and Fox.
> 
> As a reminder here's the update schedule:  
> Chapter 3 on Wednesday 2/22  
> Epilogue on Thursday 2/23


	3. Chapter 3

Velvet got through the lunch line last, held up waiting for the tray of broccoli to be refilled, getting to the table several minutes after the rest of her team.

Rather than sitting two to a side, they had all sat down on the same side of the table, chatting on and off with another team they shared history with. There was _just_ enough room for her to sit down between her partner and Fox and so she squeezed in, blatantly ignoring the wide open bench on the other side of Yatsuhashi. 

"There's plenty of room over here," Yatsu said, sliding down the bench slightly so she'd not be completely squished between the two of them. His brow furrowed when he realized there was also plenty of room on the other side of Coco.

Velvet blushed at being called out, but refused to move from where she was pressed against Fox. "I wanted to sit here, though."

"Y'know, Velvs, if you didn't insist on eating those nasty things you would have gotten here with the rest of us," Coco teased, gesturing to the offending vegetable on her plate with a wink. "Then there'd have been plenty of room to sit wherever you wanted."

"It's good! And they're covered in cheese and bacon - I bet even _you_ would like them," she teased back with a small grin, grateful for the deflection from her insistence on sitting next to Fox, who seemed oblivious to the situation. Though the small, pleased smile that never disappeared made her think he was more aware than she'd originally thought. And, she noticed, there was plenty of room for him to move down if he didn't want to be pressed up against her - and he wasn't. 

Velvet should have noticed Yatsu was worried, though - thinking that there was more to it than simply wanting to sit next to Fox.

He pulled her aside after the meal, letting their teammates walk out of earshot. "Velvet, is everything okay?" he asked, voice low.

She looked up at her partner - her best friend - and her brow furrowed at the worry she saw in his expression. "Everything's fine, why?"

"I just wanted to make sure no one was bothering you." He glanced over her shoulder. "You were pretty insistent on sitting between Fox and I at lunch."

She looked back to follow his gaze to their two teammates. Of course he was worried about Coco - it made sense, and she wasn't sure what to make of their leader just yet either. "Coco's _fine_!"

"And Fox?" A small smile crept over his face as he realized there was something about _Fox_ that had motivated her to sit there.

A blush crept back over her cheeks - her partner was much closer to the mark with that question. "More than fine."

He took mercy on her. "No one else is bothering you, are they?" he asked, looking around the courtyard as if he would be able to spot potential tormentors just by looking at them. 

"Yatsu, really, people here are great. Our teammates are great, our classmates are… well, they're no worse than any other group of humans." She shrugged. "I'm really happy here - team CFVY is better than I could have hoped for - " she swallowed the rest of the sentence. _I didn't expect to have another faunus on my team._ Yatsuhashi didn't know and she couldn't tell him.

He didn't seem to notice how her sentence had awkwardly trailed off. "Promise to tell me if anything changes."

"I will, Yatsu. I know I can count on you." She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you."

He was her best friend and nothing would ever change that.

* * *

"I don't like this," Coco said shortly after they left Oobleck's class a couple of days later. Velvet had left for their dorm without them. "Are you sure Velvet will be okay?" It was the third time she'd asked in the few moments since Velvet had taken off.

Fox's shoulders slumped. Doctor Oobleck's lecture had been intense - talking about the faunus war was always tense. He was just worried about Velvet - but he also wanted a moment to sort out his own feelings on the matter too.

"I'll go check on her," he mumbled, fleeing back towards their dorm.

He took a second to take a deep breath before letting himself in.

Still, he made a beeline for his bed, collapsing face first into it without pulling back the covers. 

It didn't take long for Velvet to come over and sit down on the bed next to his head. "You doing okay, Fox? I thought you were going to the library."

He shook his head. "It's just been a long day, especially with Oobleck's lecture, and then Coco kept asking me if I thought you were okay…" He had no energy with which to engage her on the subject - not when it was irrevocably tied with the faunus rights movement. 

Oobleck had also brought up the practice of docking faunus traits - just a brief mention about the practice, but it had still made his breath catch in his throat. 

Velvet had reached under the desk and held his hand while they listened - it had all been things they knew, but it didn't make it any less painful - doubly so because they knew Oobleck was a faunus like them. The clinical tone he'd adopted at times to get through the lecture had been awful. 

"You know I'm fine." She reached out and brushed the hair back from his face. "Are _you_ okay?"

"It hurt. A lot. And our partners were both worried about you…" He sighed. "And I don't know what to make of my own feelings on it all. It hurt, a lot, to listen to the lecture. You could hear it in Oobleck's voice too - it hurt him to talk about it the way he had to, so… _impersonal_." 

Fox had never asked Velvet if Doctor Oobleck's faunus traits were visible - he never had to. It was fairly obvious by the way all their classmates adored him - even the ones who didn't like Velvet. 

"Oobleck is in the same sort of predicament you are, I think. There's nothing obviously outing him as a faunus and so he keeps quiet about it." She sighed. "It makes sense, I guess. He couldn't know how his students would react. But I'd expect the other professors to know."

He let out a noncommittal hum. He knew where she was going with this. 

"You could tell our teammates - Yatsu wouldn't mind." She paused for a moment. "I hope you realize that, even if you don't know him as well as I do."

He sighed. "I know." He did too - he'd seen how the two of them had interacted - he knew how kind and accepting Yatsuhashi was. "I - I should tell Coco first," was the only thing he could respond with. Part of him still wanted to fix what he had broken, and he didn't know that would be possible if she was the last to find out.

Velvet cupped his cheek with her hand. "I don't think she'd actually care either."

"Probably not…" he admitted. He couldn't shake the lingering fear, left over from his parents' founded paranoia about how humans - _particularly_ Adels - treated faunus. "But I'm not ready."

"That's fine." Her voice was soft and she started to run her fingers through his hair.

He smiled, letting his eyes drift closed. He appreciated Velvet more than he could properly express. "I didn't mean to interrupt what you were doing." He didn't want her to move off his bed, but he also didn't want her to feel like she had to spend time with him.

"Just reading a novel, was taking a break from studying." It was the same gentle tone she'd used earlier. 

He honestly didn't care what she was doing - he just wanted to spend time with her, even if it was just relaxing in the same room. "You should go back to it, I'll be okay." 

She twisted, grabbing it from where she had abandoned it on the nightstand when he'd come in, making no move to go back to her own bed. "Do you want me to read to you? It's one of my favorites."

Nodding, he curled up closer to her, shifting until his head was resting on her thigh. 

Opening the book to the beginning, Velvet ran her fingers through Fox's hair again as she began to read. The gentle touch made him smile - doubly so when she didn't push him away or ask him to move. "Chapter one - Girl with a Pony."

He had no idea what this book was - honestly it could be a technical manual on how to repair a furnace and he'd gladly listen to Velvet read it. The fact it was one of her favorites meant it sounded even sweeter.

"Each year, at the end of March, a great fair was held in Cría, the capital of Galla. Like thousands of others in the Eastern Lands, Onua Chamtong went there to do business: buying ponies, in her case. This year she had another transaction to make and was having no luck with it. By the end of her fifth day at the fair, it seemed she would never find the assistant she required…"

* * *

"Mr. Alistair?" Doctor Oobleck asked about a week later as he was packing up at the end of class. "Could you stay for a moment longer? I have a question about your most recent test."

Fox shifted nervously. He thought he'd done fine on the test, but perhaps not. "I'll catch up in a bit," he said to the rest of his team.

"I can stay," Velvet offered. 

"That won't be needed Miss Scarlatina. I'll have Mr. Alistair back to you in a jiffy."

"Come on, Velvs," Coco said. "He'll be fine."

Fox waited patiently as the students filed out, slowly easing down his shields as the crowd dissipated, tracking Oobleck's movements around his desk. "Doctor?" Fox asked when the last of his classmates left. 

"I apologize for the deception, but I didn't want to say something untoward around your teammates. Your last test grade was exceptional."

Fox tilted his head. "Sir?" He could guess what Oobleck was on about - it was hard to deny the other's faunus heritage when it was only the two of them in the room. He wondered if this was the first time Oobleck had had full confirmation that Fox was a faunus - it could be difficult to tell when multiple faunus were close together.

In a blink of an eye, Oobleck was standing next to Fox, but when he spoke it wasn't in his normal rapid cadence. "Miss Scarlatina is not the only faunus on your team, is she?"

Fox turned his head, shuttering his aura again. He couldn't stand the _concern_ he felt when it was open - the gentle kindness. "No," he said, clipped and short. Faunus knew one another. Of course Oobleck knew - just as surely as Fox knew he was a faunus. "They don't know."

"Neither do most of my colleagues." Fox jumped when Oobleck clasped his shoulder. "You don't have to tell them - not ever. Even if you think they'd be accepting. You don't have to tell them - and don't let anyone tell you different."

Fox nodded. "I know. Thank you."

"And if you ever need to talk, my office is always open."

The offer warmed him, even if Fox didn't think he'd take Oobleck up on it. "Thanks, doctor." 

"You're welcome. Now! Here's that test back for you and if you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask," he said, back to his normal pace, and then zipped out the classroom door.

It felt good to have the support of people around him, especially the support of those who knew he was a faunus. 

He stretched as he stood, opening up his aura as he left the room. Finding a familiar aura right outside the door was a nice surprise - even if he was a little disappointed it wasn't Velvet.

"Is everything all right?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Yeah, Doctor Oobleck just wanted to confirm something about one of my answers for the last test." The lie came easily, but it tasted bitter. He trusted his teammates, right? Why couldn't he tell them this? 

But maybe Oobleck was right - he didn't strictly _need_ to tell them. 

"How do you feel about Velvet?" 

Fox snapped out of his train of thought at Yatsuhashi's question. "I'm sorry?"

"Velvet. How do you feel about her?" His voice was gruff, but Fox could hear the undercurrent of worry. 

He blushed, turning his head away. "She's a good friend." That wasn't a lie - she _was_ , even if Fox was starting to contemplate pursing something more.

"She is." Yatsuhashi shifted his weight, pushing off the wall he was leaning against. "I want her to be happy." 

Fox tilted his head in confusion. "I do too?" He wondered what had brought this on - had Velvet said something to Yatsuhashi?

Yatsuhashi let out a soft chuckle. "Do you want to date Velvet?" 

Okay, so maybe he'd not been as subtle as he'd hoped. The blush returned full force. "Yes."

"She's my best friend. If you hurt her…"

"I won't." It was the easiest promise to make - he would never do anything of the sort.

"Not intentionally," he said with a sigh. It was so quiet Fox wasn't entirely sure he was meant to hear it. "Look, just be careful, okay?" he said at a more normal volume. "She doesn't need some _human_ wooing her as some sort of notch in his belt." The implied threat lacked proper bite, though, almost as if Yatsuhashi was _trying_ to bait him.

Fox flinched away from the accusation. Even though he wasn't a human he could still hurt her and that's what mattered. "Velvet's so much more than that," he promised. He still couldn't bring himself to tell Yatsuhashi the truth, but he could promise this much. "I want to make her happy."

"I know." Yatsuhashi clasped his shoulder. "I wanted to make sure, though. She's like a sister to me and I can't bear the thought of her being hurt."

"I'm not going to hurt her." _Not intentionally_. The words Yatsuhashi had said so quietly echoed in his brain. It could go terribly wrong, but Velvet wasn't some conquest to him. He wanted to make it work.

"Then you should know that daisies are her favorite flower, and she's currently alone in the library." He gave Fox a playful shove in the right direction.

"Thanks, Yatsu," Fox said, smiling. He had friends looking out for him and people who cared about him. It was a good day.

* * *

Velvet hummed happily a few days later as she made her way across campus. Fox had _finally_ asked her out and she was looking forward to their upcoming date. 

Letting herself into the dorm, her gait faltered when she spotted Fox laying on his bed, curled up on his side. 

"You feeling all right?" Velvet asked him, dropping her books off at her desk before going to his side and laying a hand on his shoulder. 

"Just… my back hurts."

His tail wasn't there anymore, but he could feel it some days. Muscles that weren't there twitching, nerves firing, the extra muscles in his lower back seizing up in an attempt to move it. Days like this - when he couldn't escape who he was - were the worst.

"Hmmm." The bed dipped with Velvet's added weight. "Take off your shirt and lay on your stomach?"

He smiled, unzipping his vest. "Being forward, aren't we?" he teased as he shrugged out of it, then laid face down.

Velvet moved so she was straddling his back, hands going to his lower back. "I don't hear you complaining," she commented just as she pressed her thumbs into the worst of the knots.

"Fuck, _Velvet_."

She leaned down and whispered, "Now who's being forward?" Her hands moved just a little lower down to his hips, thumbs moving in tight circles over the worst of it.

His breath hitched as her hands moved closer together, pulling the skin around what was left of his tail. It didn't really hurt, not yet. "There's a stump, still where my tail was. Please be gentle." They hadn't cut it completely off, and as he'd grown so had it. He'd entertained the thought of getting it cut again as it did get irritated by his pants and could be difficult to be hide, but he couldn't stand the thought of losing the last bit of his tail either. 

Her hands stilled and she leaned down to kiss his shoulder. "I won't touch it unless you want me to."

His thoughts stuttered to a halt at the offer. No one had ever touched it before and the sudden want that overwhelmed him was all encompassing. "Please," he all but begged.

He didn't have to ask twice - she carefully felt it with her fingers, just light sweet touches to get an idea of what was there before switching to gently massaging. 

He sighed, marveling in the sensations. It was incredibly relaxing to have her hands on him. She avoided the over-sensitive scar tissue on the very end, but her hands slipped beneath the waistband of his pants to stroke his fur. He gasped, twisting to give into the need to touch her in turn. His arm slipped around her waist and pulled her down so they were lying face to face. 

Velvet let out a tiny squeak, falling towards the bed - careful not to crush Fox by accident. 

"Can - can I?" he whispered, the hand that had been around her waist now in her hair.

"Please." She sounded as needy as he had been and so he did. His clumsy hands weren't nearly as gentle as hers had been, but he made do, marveling at the difference in texture between the inner and outer ear.

Her soft sighs were encouraging. Her fur was so soft - the feeling was something he never wanted to forget. Fox leaned in and brushed his cheek along it, both of them shivering at the touch.

Velvet was the one to move further, tilting her head up to capture his lips - just a tiny press of her lips to his before pulling away. 

Fox gasped, then pulled her back in for another kiss, this one much longer, moving their lips against one another, neither of them in any hurry to move things along. "The others will be back soon." Despite his words, he didn't pull away.

"I know." She kissed his cheek. "I don't want to move."

"Then don't." Fox pulled her closer, continuing to pet her ears. He shivered when she ran her thumb over the top of his tail stump. "Does it ever get less intense?"

"Not really," she whispered as he traced the outline of her ears, one of them twitching when the lock on the dorm door disengaged. She pulled her hand out of his pants to rest in the same spot just outside his clothes.

Fox whined into her neck, but he couldn't disagree with why she'd done it. One of their partners walking in on them now would be awkward regardless. No need to make it worse.

"Should I come back?" Coco teased, but there was an undercurrent of worry to her tone.

Fox sighed and sat up, shaking his head. "It's fine."

"Velvs, you want to go meet Yatsu for lunch? We'll catch up in a second."

"Sure!" she said brightly, pressing a kiss to Fox's temple before she left.

He waited until after the door closed to speak, pulling his vest back on as he did. "She's not taking advantage of me, or whatever you're thinking right now."

She paced the length of the room and then back. "I'm honestly not sure what to think. I'd known you for years - considered you my closest friend, and you've known her for, what, all of a couple months?" She sighed and sat down next to him. "I'm worried, sure, but you're _happy_. That's all that really matters to me."

The concern in her tone almost had him telling her everything, confessing to being a faunus. He didn't want her to worry about him. "It's… different with Velvet. I promise that I'm fine with everything that's happening - and you'll be the first to know if she crosses a line."

He gave her a hug, smiling when she relaxed into it and returned the embrace. 

"I just wanted to make sure you're safe. I know you can handle yourself but I wanted that peace of mind," Coco mumbled into his shoulder.

Fox nodded, throat tight. "I'll be fine, I promise."

* * *

Velvet slid onto the bench next to Yatsuhashi, humming happily. 

"You seem chipper. Having a good day?" he asked, smiling down at her.

She nodded, keeping one eye on the door for Fox and Coco. "Had a nice talk with Fox."

His smile wavered slightly, not quite getting all the way to a frown, but it was no longer as bright. "You and Fox have gotten close."

"He's a great friend and teammate." She bit her bottom lip and blushed slightly, oblivious to Yatsu's reaction. "Starting to be something more," she said, voice going quiet. 

"Velvet…"

Something in his tone made her look up sharply at him, brow furrowing in confusion at his stoic expression. "You - you don't approve?" she asked, voice small, ears falling back.

He tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. "No - I'm just concerned. Velvs… I don't want you to get hurt."

"He'd never hurt me," she said, relaxing. If that was the only thing, it would be easy enough.

"Not intentionally, but he's still human."

She jerked back at that - of course Yatsu didn't know Fox was a faunus, but she hadn't considered that he would be worried about him being a human. Her heart hurt, wanting to reassure him that Fox wouldn't hurt her, but she knew Yatsuhashi would never believe it. Not when he thought Fox was human. And she couldn't correct the assumption - not without Fox's blessing.

"And you're not?" she asked, looking away. It wasn't a fair question - if Fox had been human, he would have been in a much better place to hurt Velvet than Yatsuhashi ever had. But it was the only thing she _could_ say.

A prolonged silence stretched between them. "Of course. I'm sorry, Velvs, you're right." He clasped his hand on her shoulder. "Just please - be careful."

"I always am," she said, finally managing a smile.

* * *

It took six months for something to go terribly wrong. By all accounts, it should have gone south much sooner. There'd been whispers that followed Fox and Velvet around campus, but Yatsu and Coco silenced anyone who tried to make a big deal of it.

Velvet hadn't even changed out of her date clothes before she slid into the seat next to Yatsuhashi in the library. 

He looked at his partner's slumped shoulders and downcast eyes and shut the textbook he'd been reading.

 _Find Fox, something went wrong_ he texted Coco before giving Velvet his full attention. They'd abandoned the dorm room to give their partners some rare privacy after their date, but apparently it wouldn't be needed tonight.

She pulled out the flower she'd tucked behind her ear earlier that night and twisted it around her fingers, not looking up at Yatsuhashi.

He waited patiently, knowing she'd talk to him when she was ready. 

"It's…" She sighed. "It shouldn't bother me."

"If it's bothering you, then it's not okay," he said, taking her hand. "What happened?"

"Just some asshole in town deciding to weigh in on Fox's choice of date." Her ears fell back and she started picking at the flower in her hands. "He was really upset."

"About you being a faunus?" he asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.

She nodded, but she wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Velvet?" he asked, putting his hand on hers. "You know Fox loves you, right? He doesn't care you're - "

"I _know_ ," she snapped, pulling her hands back. 

Yatsuhashi startled at her tone. "Velvs?" She never talked to him like that, but the tone didn't sting as much as what it implied. Was there something else going on here she couldn't talk to him about? 

She pushed away from the table. "I have to go find Fox."

"Velvet, wait," he tried, but she was already gone.

He picked up the flower she'd left behind. "Please, talk to me?"

* * *

" _You know she's a faunus, right?_ " 

The question was common enough - well-meaning bystanders pulling him aside to tell him about Velvet's ears. He tried not to let it bother him, even though it did. The implication that Velvet was somehow trying to trick him into dating her would never quite sit right with him.

But what was worse than that - the absolute _worst_ \- were the jeers telling Velvet to date her own kind. He didn't have the courage to correct them and to tell them he was a faunus. 

He didn't even have the courage to tell his _best friend_ the truth. (It felt weird to revive the title for Coco, even if he didn't feel like he had the right to say it out loud just yet.)

Velvet said she didn't care - that she didn't mind - but he couldn't help but feel ashamed - and this time - on their way back from a nice date, about to enjoy some privacy, it cut way deeper than he'd expected. 

It wasn't the first time someone had said as much, and certainly wasn't the last, but today it hurt more. 

Maybe it was the way his pants were rubbing wrong, or the fact that he was having phantom pains, or maybe it was because this time, Velvet had flinched away from the accuser's words. 

_It was a faunus,_ she'd explained later. 

He didn't want Velvet to comfort him - it wouldn't feel right, not when he'd been unable to stand up for her.

She'd left when he'd asked, leaving him to stew in his thoughts in the dorm room. It was somehow even more painful to be alone right now - but he couldn't bring himself to ask her to come back.

"Fox? Is everything okay?" 

He about jumped out of his skin at the sound of Coco's voice. He'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts he had missed her coming in.

He let out a snort of laughter. "No."

"Yatsu texted." She sounded so concerned. "Did something go wrong on your date?"

Letting his head drop back against his knees, he nodded, unable to form words around the lump in his throat.

"Something one of you did?"

He quickly shook his head - if only he'd _done_ something, _said_ something.

"Someone say something to Velvet?" Another nod. "About being with a human?" she ventured.

He flinched. All four of them had heard people saying things around campus - unkind words half-mumbled, but somehow always just loud enough to be heard. 

"She doesn't care you know." She sat down on the bed next to him and started to rub his back. "She loves you so much - she's not going to let something like that come between you. And Yatsu and I don't care - I always thought it was ridiculous, humans and faunus can date one another." She let out an irritated sigh. "You two are adorable together. People are always going to hate faunus, regardless of if they date a human."

"But she's not!" 

He finally found his voice, his words - his courage. 

"She's _not_ dating a human." His words were coming out jumbled and rushed, but he pressed on. "She can't hide her ears, even if she wanted to, just like I can't show off my tail - even though I desperately want to!"

Her hand stopped its slow movement over his shoulder blades. "What do you mean?" she asked, voice carefully neutral.

"I was born with a tail," he said, drawing his knees up to his chest. "I'm told it was a fox tail, nearly as long as my torso. My parents thought it would be better if they docked it shortly after I was born, just like my grandparents had done to them and their parents to them. I'm _not_ human and I never have been!" his voice raised to just shy of a shout by the end. 

"I'm a _faunus_ , Coco," he whispered, voice breaking. 

" _Fox_ ," she said, her own voice cracking. She drew him into a fierce hug. "Fox - _Maidens_ I'm so sorry."

"I don't want pity!" He pulled out of her arms and hugged his knees to his chest again. "I just want to fit in. I don't belong with humans, I don't belong with faunus. Velvet's the best thing that ever happened to me - I _finally_ felt like I belonged." He shook his head. "I don't know what to do - I should have said _something_."

"No - it's not your job." 

His head snapped up at Velvet's comment - he hadn't even heard her come in. 

" _I_ should have said something," she continued. Now that he was listening for her, he could hear her soft footsteps cross the room towards him. "I should have said something and I'm sorry, Fox." She climbed onto the bed and wrapped her arms around him. "Coco - "

"She knows," Fox managed through the tears, not sure when Velvet had come in. "It's okay." 

It wasn't, but no one was going to correct the statement.

"You knew already." It wasn't really a question, but Coco managed to keep the accusation out of her tone.

"Faunus know one another. I've known since we met."

"I'm sorry," Fox whispered.

"I know, Fox. It's okay." Coco wasn't sure what he was apologizing for - it had been his choice and she could understand why he had been reluctant to tell her, no matter how much it had hurt. "You have nothing to apologize for." 

"Yatsu?" he mumbled into Velvet's shoulder. Now that he'd told Coco it seemed silly to keep it from their last teammate.

She reached up to stroke his hair. "In the library last I saw him."

"We should tell him," Fox said, lifting his head off Velvet's shoulder so he was sure to be heard.

"Only if you want."

"If you're comfortable with that."

He couldn't help but smile a little bit at their reassurances - even Velvet, who had wanted to tell her partner for a while now, would never try to pressure him into it. "I don't want anyone outside the team to know, but he should know."

Coco gave him a quick hug. "I'll text him, ask him to come back to the room."

* * *

Three somber faces looked up at Yatsuhashi when he walked into the room. His teammates all had tears rolling down their faces, and were curled up on Fox's bed together.

Something had happened - he knew it. Velvet might not have been able to tell him earlier, and he'd been willing to accept that, but now he wasn't sure he was going to accept a non-answer again.

It was Fox who spoke up first. "Velvet - can you?" He couldn't meet Yatsu's gaze.

Yatsuhashi looked between his partner and Fox, the sense of dread only growing. She and Fox were intertwined in a way that barely seemed physically possible, with Coco gently stroking his back.

"Yatsu…" Velvet carefully extracted herself, keeping one arm around Fox's shoulders. He curled upon himself, pressing his face into his knees. "You know what we were talking about earlier? About the asshole at the fair?"

Of course he did - as much as he wanted to forget. He nodded, sitting down next to Velvet. "Did something else happen?" She and Fox seemed to still be intimate, so them having broken up clearly wasn't the issue. 

But when Velvet opened her mouth to explain, no words came out. She closed her eyes tight and shook her head more forcibly than necessary. 

"Fox is a faunus." Coco was the only one of them who was able to find her words, and she too sounded like she'd been crying. But despite the pain in her tone, she glared up at him as if daring him to say something rude.

Yatsu blinked, trying to digest this information around the knot of dread that had lodged itself in his stomach. It made a lot of sense - and had no doubt been a source of great pain for Fox. He closed his eyes when he remembered the things he'd said - accused Fox of being a human wanting to take advantage of Velvet. 

"I had a tail when I was born," Fox said, drawing Yatsu's attention back to him. The clinical tone quickly gave way to irritation and anger. "My parents had it docked. It happens. I don't need - or want - your pity, but I think you should know."

He looked at Coco, unsure of what he could do or say to make this better, but she looked just as lost as he felt. "Thank you for telling me," is what he finally settled on.

His partner - his best friend - looked up at him, but then looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. "I wanted to tell you, Yatsu."

Velvet would have known, of course. She'd told him once that faunus knew one another, and he couldn't begrudge her the knowledge, even though it had put a strain on their friendship. He did find himself wondering if Coco had known - something about the way she was teary-eyed made him think she hadn't. 

Rather than ask more questions, he did the only thing the moment called for - he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay. I understand." Sitting down on the bed next to the rest of his team, he wrapped his arms around them all. "Thank you for telling me."

There'd be more questions, later, and more explanations to be had, but for now, everyone was all right and that was what mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue goes up tomorrow! (It's going to be fluffy because we need the fluff.)
> 
> Thanks to [Anipendragon](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AniPendragon/pseuds/AniPendragon) for letting me borrow faunus!Oobleck.
> 
> For those curious, Velvet is reading _Wild Magic_ by Tamora Pierce. Second choice for that passage was _Dealing with Dragons_ by Patricia C. Wrede. Both are excellent books that I highly recommend to everyone! (I also hope at least one of you figured it out before I told you...)


	4. Epilogue - 10 years later

When Velvet had gone in for her ultrasounds, they had specifically asked the doctor to not tell them what - if any - faunus traits were visible. They knew it would be random chance, but it didn't matter to them, any more than their child's gender did. 

They had two requirements for the birth itself - Fox was to be allowed in the room with Velvet, and there would be no mention of docking the child's traits when they were born. The town they'd settled down in just outside of Vale wasn't _known_ for such practices, but it was good to establish ahead of time.

Velvet never once let go of Fox's hand, his aura flaring every time she squeezed it too hard as she screamed and cursed. He never once left her side, his grip tightening some hours later when the room fell into silence briefly - only to be punctuated by a baby's cry. "One in a million chance," the midwife said under her breath, slightly awed.

"Is - are they okay?" Fox asked, straining to hear anything that would give him even the slightest clue as to what was going on.

"She's fine," Indigo was quick to assure him. 

He lifted Velvet's hand to give the back of it a kiss. Velvet shifted, her breathing changing slightly. " _Oh_." She extracted her hand from Fox's, and he put it on her shoulder. 

"I'll leave you three alone for a bit, let me know if you need anything."

"Of course, thank you," Velvet reassured her.

The door opened and shut - she was no doubt going to go out and reassure Coco and Yatsuhashi, who had insisted on coming along to meet their godchild as soon as possible.

"Here - Fox, take her, please." Her voice was thick with exhaustion and _something_ he couldn't quite place.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, fearful even as he reached out to take his daughter from Velvet. "Her eyes - " They'd talked about the potential for their child to be blind, of course, and Velvet reassured him she didn't care. She wanted a child with _him_ and that's what mattered to her.

"Too early to tell - but there's nothing wrong." Velvet placed their child into his arms, helping him rearrange his grip so that he was holding her right. "Just… feel."

There'd been no mention of faunus traits - of course their daughter would have one. That wasn't even a question. The only question was _what_.

He ran his hand over her hair, fine like Velvet's, and no apparent horn nubs on her forehead nor any ears. Down her shoulders to her hands - no scales he could feel, nor any claws on her fingertips. 

His hand went to her back - beginning to have a shred of hope. He let out a gasp when his fingers brushed against a tail - even though the fur was still damp he could tell it was thick and bushy. "Velvet?"

"One in a million chance she'd take after you," she murmured. "She's got my hair color though - but yes, she has a fox tail."

He kept running his hand over it reverently, throat too tight to form words. "We won't - Velvet we _can't_ \- " he finally managed to get out, panic overwhelming him like it hadn't since she'd first quietly asked if he wanted any children. He couldn't take it away from her.

"Never, Fox. That was the deal, remember?" He had managed to tell her in halting words that he wouldn't - _couldn't_ \- hurt his child. Velvet had gone still when he'd said so, then quickly reassured him that it wasn't an option as far as she was concerned. "Come here, sweetheart," she urged, patting the bed next to her. 

He awkwardly climbed into bed with her, still clutching their daughter tightly to his chest. "She's perfect, Velvet," he whispered, managing to to get himself comfortable with their daughter sleeping between them. 

"She is - she really is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this how birth happens? No. Do I particularly care for 600 words of fluff to soothe your nerves after 15,000 words of angst? Also no.
> 
> Huge thank you to [Smecking](http://smecking.tumblr.com/) for her gorgeous artwork and support during the Big Bang. Could not have done it without her.
> 
> Thank you to [Shandromand](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/441005/shandromand) for helping proofread.
> 
> And thanks to all of you for reading and commenting!


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